Blog: Nestle receives green light on Pfizer deal

Swiss food group Nestle today (6 November) received approval from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce for its US$11.85bn deal to acquire Pfizer's infant nutrition business.

The approval brings Nestle another step closer to completing the acquisition, which was announced in April this year, enabling the world's largest infant nutrition group to extend its lead in this fast-growing category.

Pfizer Nutrition operates in more than 60 countries globally and 85% of sales are generated in emerging markets, meaning the acquisition effectively fills in the blanks on the map for Nestle. It will provide the company with increased scale in a high-growth, high-margin, category in fast-growing developing markets, CEO Paul Bulcke told investors as it emerged as victor of competitive auction process.

Nestle beat companies including Danone and Mead Johnson to seal the agreement. The next hurdle, however, is to receive approval from anti-trust bodies in several countries in order to fully complete the acquisition.

It's light on specific details but a new "strategic policy roadmap" for 2018 from the US Food and Drug Administration should give manufacturers a sense of where the agency could be looking to act this...